There are plenty of other characters to keep the laughs coming. Meryn Flynn maintains an amusing French accent and, on occasion, a lovely singing voice as Madame LeBeau, a feminized version of a male courtier in the original. A secondary couple of lovers demonstrate the extremes of foolishness that romance can take — Silvius (Adam Buxbaum) is a moon-eyed country swain in love with an indifferent Phoebe (Julian Trilling). (Rosalind advises the latter, in one of my favorite Shakespeare wisecracks, "Sell while you can. You are not for all markets." Stiff competition along these lines is Rosalind noting, after interrupting Celia, "Do you not know I am a woman? When I think, I must speak.")

Come early and bring a blanket and picnic basket. Being a groundling isn't bad at all.

Review: CTC's minimalist Romeo and Juliet Ah, young love. So sweet, so unguarded, so unwise. Parents can caution the younger of their teenagers all they want, but William Shakespeare has undermined their efforts by promoting the blissful aspect in Romeo and Juliet . Yes, it's a tragedy and they die at the end, but that's a minor annoyance next to their joy.

Review: Brown's As You Like It turns the tables There can be too much of a good thing, as Rosalind in As You Like It brings up in the course of things, thereby introducing the phrase to the English language. In a related caution, familiarity breeds contempt, as an Aesop's fable had it.

Review: A winning West Side Story at PPAC Regarding Shakespearean tragedies, it's hard to think of another Broadway adaptation that could earn the box office appeal that this musical drew out of Romeo and Juliet .

Review: Much Ado in World War 2 Men return from war, and attentions turn to love: It's a timeless order, and so it is with the witty Sicilians of Shakespeare's comedy Much Ado About Nothing .

Crist shines in 2nd Story’s Master Class Self-centeredness, tunnel vision, career obsession — these are not traits that endear us to a person. Yet without them, as Terrence McNally's absorbing Master Class makes clear, Maria Callas would not have attained her ranking as a renowned opera diva.

All's Well on Boston Common I think of Measure for Measure , with its fanatically chaste heroine, and All's Well That Ends Well , with its lovely lass in pursuit of a lout, as Shakespeare's "Smart Women, Foolish Choices" plays.

REASONS TO BELIEVE (OR NOT) | September 24, 2014 To non-believers, the evangelical movement can look like a loud, friendly party whose invitation we’ve politely declined, but whose windows sooner or later we can’t help peeking into.

MYTHS AND DREAMS | September 24, 2014 This play stringings together bedtime stories and fevered hallucinations.

GENDER BENDERS | September 17, 2014 Gender confusion has probably been around for as long as gender conflicts.

SIMONE'S | September 17, 2014 In the Rhode Island tradition of giving directions like “it’s where the coffee milk factory used to be,” Simone’s is located where Not Your Average Bar & Grille and the ice cream shop Supreme Dairy used to be.